The Kevin Sheehan Show - Michigan + Thom's Take On "Panic"

Episode Date: April 7, 2026

Kevin and Thom today with plenty on last night's Michigan win over UConn to take home the first NCAA Championship for a Big 10 team since 2000. Thom weighed in on the "panic" description of Washington's free agency class by an NFL front office exec in a story written by Mike Sando/The Athletic. The boys spent some time on the Sporting News All-Time Men's College Basketball Team and then finished up with Nats, Caps, and Dawn vs Geno.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Our listeners get the Harry’s Plus Trial Set for only $10 at https://www.Harrys.com/[INSERT CODE]  #Harryspod For all your garden needs: fastgrowingtrees.com/sheehan Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. He is Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation or WindowNation. Orwindonation.com at the new Windows.

Did you watch the national championship game last night, Tommy? Yes, I did. You did. Good. Did. Yes. And I enjoyed it. Really?

It was my kind of game. Because why? It was in the paint. You know? It may not have been the intentional reason that was in the paint, because they shot so bad, particularly Michigan. Yeah. But I enjoy that game.

I enjoy kind of a rough game. I enjoy, you know, attacking the basket rather than, you know, heaving up pre-pointers. So I enjoy battling for rebounds. That was my kind of game. I loved it. You know what? I loved it too. And I kept getting, I was part of a couple of, you know, text threads during games like this that I'm a part of sometimes with a bunch of high school friends that I played basketball with.

We're always on a group text, especially during, you know, big games with my two sons, two of my three boys who are really into it. and they kept getting over and over again, this game is painful. This game is boring. And I said, not for me. It may be,

it may be ugly at times, you know, aesthetically, but that was unbelievable defense by both teams. I mean, so good, so intense. Very intense.

It made it a very difficult game to officiate, and I'm going to get to the officiating, because I think it was a major factor in the game last night against Yukon. And I'll get to some of the examples and some of my thoughts on that. But I loved more than anything, Tommy, last night. Watching a lesser team, which Yukon was a lesser team, talent-wise, size-wise, skill-wise. I mean, Michigan is loaded. I mean, four to five of those guys are going to play in the NBA. And yet, Yukon hung in there with a team that had won each of its five tournament games by not only double digits, but by an average margin of 21.6 points per game.

They averaged 94 points a game coming into it. And I said yesterday, the only chance Yukon has, And I gave him a chance. I mean, I had them in the smell test. I also had the under, so it was a good ending to the tournament for me. But I said the chance they have is if Danny Hurley and his group figure out a way to slow the game down and for the game to be played in the 60s. If it's played in the 60s, they're going to have a chance.

And they held a team that was averaging 94 in the tournament to 69. And they did it. And look, if you look at the numbers, they did everything. If you just look at the stats for the most part, except for one, you would think that Connecticut won. Tell me what you're talking about. What's the one stat? The rebounding stat. Oh, free throws.

Well, Connecticut had. Yeah, no, big rebounding advantage. Yes, free throws. Rebounding advantage. No doubt. Free throws. A hundred percent free throws. I mean, you look at the other numbers.

You're thinking, well, you know. I mean, you know, Connecticut did everything they wanted to do. Yeah. I, there was, they did. They did a lot of what they wanted to do. The, the beauty of watching a game like that that comes together for the underdog, comes together for the team that's outmatched, is to watch how it happens. I think everybody had a sense that that's what had to happen if Yukon was going to win a game.

They were not going to win a game 8886. They were going to win a game 70 to 68 or 65 to 63. And they did it in two ways. They did it with their pace offensively. They did it with great defense, slowing Michigan's pace of play. And they did it, you pointed to this already. They did it with an unbelievable job rebounding specifically offensive rebounding where they had 22 offensive rebounds against that monster-sized team.

I mean, nearly half their rebounds came on the offensive glass. That will keep a high-scoring opponent from scoring a lot of points if you gain 22 extra possessions with offensive rebounds because they're clock-eating possessions where Michigan can't score because they don't have the ball. So those two things came together. Yukon's pace, their defense and their rebounding to really shorten the game and keep the game in an area, score-wise, possession count-wise, where they could win. Now, you know, why didn't they pull it off?

Well, Michigan's really good. Like, they won a game in which they didn't get to play their style of game. But that's one of the reasons. The primary reasons for me is that Yukon didn't make enough shots. Tommy, they were 17 to 55 from the floor, 5 of 24 from behind the arc. If they make just a couple more shots, that's a winnable game. And they had some looks. You know, Mullins had some looks in that game.

Hurley runs phenomenal sets. I mean, watch them coming out of a timeout, what they run. and the kind of looks they get. Michigan's defense was insanely good in this game, even though they didn't rebound well. But Yukon had a difficult time offensively because they're big, they're strong, they're athletic on the perimeter, and at the rim where they had six block shots

and influenced shots all night long. But they had opportunities to knock down some shots. They didn't make shots a few more would have turned that six-point deficit maybe into a one or two-point win. Secondly, they turned the ball over too much in the beginning of the second half. So you're giving back some of those possessions that you got on offensive rebounds, and a couple of them were totally unforced. So I thought that was a critical stretch in the beginning of the second half.

The score was kind of stuck on like 37, 31, and they had opportunities, and they couldn't dent the lead. And then I thought officiating was a problem in this game. And I will admit going in, Michigan was good last night, good enough to win. They were the best team in this tournament. They were deserving of it. But I thought the officiating was one-sided. And there was a stretch in the first half.

You didn't think they both let them both play? Because I thought they let them both play. I thought it's a great. I 100% think they let them play. Because I think if they had blown the whistle all night long, the game would have lasted three and a half hours and everybody would have fouled out because both teams were up in

the opponents into their chest defensively and you know everything was people were getting knocked around knocked off the ball and you couldn't blow the whistle on every play which is why I think the game was difficult to officiate but the bottom line

is Yukon was on the short end of the letting them play mantra because they called first of all in the first half. They called an offensive foul on Reed Jr. on a screen where it was very, very ticky tack, and they let those things go all night long and actually all tournament along. They really let sort of the moving screens. They let that go in this tournament. And then the hook and hold on caravan in the first half was the turning point in the game. Yukon's up

2523. They call the hook and hold. It's a flagrant. Yukon hits a both free throws. They get the ball. They score again. They go from down to to up to and they end up on like a 10 to 3 run and they're up 33 or 10 to 4 run. They end up 33 29 up at the half when I think we were heading for a game in which at halftime either Yukon had a short lead or it was tied. I thought that was critical. But an example of I thought Yukon on the short end of the officiating stick last night. They got whistled for 22 fouls in the game. Michigan just 13. Michigan shot 28 free throws in the game. Yukon 16. I didn't think, yeah, I didn't think Yukon's style of play, you know, warranted, you know, 12 less free throw attempts than Michigan, you know, nine more fouls in total than

Michigan. Michigan was shooting. They were in the double bonus with like 10 minutes to go in the first half. And they made their free throws to their credit. You know, a lot of their points came on free throws. There were 25 of 28 from the free throw line. And it was huge in the game. Michigan's really good. Don't mistake what I've said with thinking that they don't deserve it. They do. They were taken out of their game last night and they still won, which proves how good they are and how good they were defensive. I just thought that Yukon was on the short end of not intentionally. It was a tough game to officiate, but ultimately, I mean, the numbers bear out that Michigan had many more opportunities from the free throw line and got called and were in much less

foul trouble throughout the game. Yukon was in deep foul trouble in the first half. and I think that that really affected the outcome of the game. But they're impressive. There's no doubt about it. But man, there's something about watching Yukon. And in that spot, because the two previous championship wins, they were big favorites. You know, they were favorites. But not last night.

And man, Danny Hurley can just flat out coach. Well, he likes, I mean, like a lot of coaches do. But this guy in particular, he likes being the underdog. you know, he likes that. Yeah, I mean, he wasn't, you know, he hasn't been that much in recent years. I know. They are tough, too, man.

God, there is really, you know, the Big Ten's been known as a rugged league forever. You know, these leagues have always had sort of these, you know, labels, you know, the Big Ten was rugged, the Big East was violent, the ACC was more finesse. you know, back in the day. But, you know, it's all, you know, different now. I mean, there are lots of different styles of teams in every league because the leagues are so big.

But, man, Yukon gave you, you know, kind of an old school Big East performance. And they could easily be sitting here. They knocked down a couple more shots. They get a couple of calls to kind of go their way. They could be sitting here as champs today. And Hurley would have three of the last four. and we'd be talking about him in ways which I don't think losing last night should change it. He's great.

He's become... He's great, but he would be in a very, above the select group if they had won last night. What's the select group? Well, the select group is Dean Smith, you know, Coach K. I don't know. Wouldn't Dean Shoshchewski Knight? Yeah, although, yeah, I guess so. That's right.

I would push Sheshefsky and Wooden in the category by himself. That would be above the elite. I'd put Dean in that category. I'd put him up there. If you want to put Bobby Knight just below that, that's hard for me because maybe the, Bobby Knight's in that group. Bobby Knight could just, he was a great basketball coach.

Those are the four. And I'm not talking. I'm not talking. I mean, you can tell me about, you know, Rupp and some of the guys from way back when. But to me, it be Wooden Shoshchevsky Smith Knight. That's your Mount Rushmore of, you know, last 55, 60 years of college basketball coaches.

whatever. Where we were headed was, if Danny Hurley had three and four years, puts him in select company, and he probably is at the top or very near the top of whatever the next tier is. Yeah. He's crazy, though. He is. And he knows it.

And he knows it. I'm glad you enjoyed the game. I was... Absolutely. I don't like Rough and Tumble play. I didn't know if you had watched it before we started to record this show, and I didn't know if you would say, oh, it was a terrible game. I mean, Yukon threw up 33, you know, three-point attempts in the game. I only made nine of them.

But, yeah. But they had to go inside at some point to play, you know, and that's where I like the game. I like the game played in a phone booth. Well, that phone booth, the Michigan players were taking some of Superman's, you know, shots and throwing them back in the other direction. That was impressive at times defensively. Michigan's been good defensively all year. Wow, what a win for them. And I mean, I'm sure you heard this last night. People, if you didn't know it before, that is the Big Ten's first national championship in basketball, men's basketball. since 2000 when Michigan State and Tom Mizzow won the title. Now, they've had a team in the Big Ten that's won one more recently than 2000.

That would be Maryland in 2002, but the Terps were not in the Big Ten in 2002. They were an ACC team in 2002. Hence, Michigan, the first Big Ten team to win a title since Michigan State in 2000. lot of final four teams and a lot of... Big Ten wins the National Football Championship, national basketball championship. Yeah. Yeah, Indiana and Michigan.

Let me just say this. If I said to you in some world prior to this year, Indiana and Michigan are going to be college champions of both men's basketball and men's football. I don't think you would guess Indiana and football, football, Michigan, and basketball. No, you're right. You're right. But that is the nature of college sports these days. And now it all disappears. Now there is, it's like somebody opened up the gym doors and everyone goes running out.

Yes. Where are we going to play next year? Well, the portal opened at midnight last night. Literally opened at midnight last night. I know. They opened up the gym doors. Everyone went running out and saying, where's my school? Where do I play? Where's my pile of money?

Where's my pile of money? Yeah, it's the portal is now open, and I'm very interested right now in what my team, what Maryland is going to do in the portal. I mean, they have kept two key pieces in Pharre and Mills, it looks like. And now Buzz Williams is going to have to really make hay here over the next week. He's going to have to, you know, evaluate it well and get it to come here. And from what I've been told, Maryland basketball fans that are listening, they have the money to do what they need to do.

He is being supported and he can go out and compete with the big boys on talent. So he needs to figure it out. There's no doubt. and I would say the same for Ed Cooley at Georgetown. You can't have Maryland and Georgetown both sitting out of the tournament this time next year and have both of those coaches coming back for 2028 at that point. That's not going to happen. From Red.

How's that formula working out, Sheehan? Yeah, my formula did not work. Michigan was not among the eight teams that I had that could win the tournament. when I went through my pre-tournament formula that I've been doing for about eight or nine years, I think that's the second time that I haven't been able to produce the winner out of the list of 68. I think Virginia in 2019 was the last one, but Michigan wasn't on there because they didn't generate the bulk of their scoring from the back court. And that's why they didn't make it to the final round. Yeah, I may have to toss that formula out.

What was your Smeltas record for the tournament? 20 and 14. That's excellent. Not bad. At one point, I was 16 and 8, so at one point I was hitting at 2 thirds at 66.66.6666. But, you know, 20 and 14 is a really good tournament. And 2 in 0 last night. I think I mentioned this on the podcast.

yesterday. I got, you know, this happens. I get information before every NFL weekend before my show on Friday. And sometimes, you know, it can be dated by the time we get to Saturday kickoff or Sunday kickoff. But I got one of those texts that just said, biggest needs of the tournament, we need Yukon to win the game, number one. We need Yukon plus the points number two. And damn, do we need this game to go under the total? And so that was, those were house needs, let's just say, in warm climbs. They didn't get the Yukon outright win, but they got the Yukon plus the number. They went off at six and a half seven and lost by six.

And the total was never in doubt. That was 146, and the game finished 69, 63 at 132. There you go. Yeah, I thought it was a good tournament overall, actually. I thought it was a good tournament. Neither one of us did very well. We did not excel. I had Purdue winning the tournament, and you had winning the tournament.

I think I had Arkansas over Florida in the national championship game, and you had Arkansas over Michigan in one semifinal. Florida over Duke in the other. So those were your two, those were your two picks. I had, I had Purdue beating, where's my bracket?

I can't even find my bracket now. It wasn't very good. It was not a very good bracket for sure. But hey, we'll try again next year. You were prepared this year going into the tournament. Yes, I was. Don't get used to it.

No. No, I shouldn't get used to it. I mean, you came in that day and you said, are we doing picks today? And I said, whoa, you're really prepared for this thing. Yeah, don't get used to it, though. Good tournament. Wasn't so much into the college hoop season like I usually am, mostly because Maryland was terrible this year.

But enjoyed the tournament, you know, going all the way back to Miami of Ohio playing in that first four game against SMU where they put on an absolute show in that first round game. And we had good games. You know, there were some really good games, memorable finishes. The Kentucky Santa Clara game when O'A hit that,

you know, near half-court shot to force overtime. The Mullen shot is an all-timer, obviously, against Duke at Capital One. You know, the final four games were blowouts for the most part. I mean, Illinois was in the game. And then last night's game, I enjoyed it. I have a feeling that we're in the minority on that, but so be it. I think so. All right. Well, because, you know, but everyone, you know, they'd rather see, you know, it's what they're used to seeing. They're used to seeing, you know, three-point

contest, and this wasn't that, although Connecticut tried. Yeah. You know, in the NBA last night, just this is straight for, you know, your heart. the Memphis Grizzlies made 29 three-pointers against the Cleveland Cavaliers and that tied the NBA single game record 29 threes

that's a lot of threes that's a lot of made threes and you know what's funny is I don't even know if 29 if I had been watching the game they were 29 of 59 from behind the arc I don't even know if I had been watching the game, if it would have really registered as remarkable.

Like, you see 20 a lot. You see, you know, you see 50 and 55 attempts, you know, a lot. 59 attempts is unbelievable. 59 of their shot attempts out of their 94 were three-point attempts. They didn't win the game. But, yeah, a lot of three-point shooting, for sure. Not your favorite thing. All right, we got other things to get.

get to, concluding Tommy wants to weigh in on the Mike Sando athletic story that had some of the NFL's team execs weighing in on Washington's free agency. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, I've been talking about Mando now for a few months. I'm a big fan. Mando is a whole body deodorant. And for some of you, that's a big deal, especially for those of you that are back into the dating world. You're getting ready for a first date. Deodorant is a non-negotiable on a first date, and this is a whole-body deodorant.

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That was all-time Snyder S-show panic because they were afraid the giants were going to trade for him. I do remember that trade. Oh my God. Did I rip them back then? But wasn't that trade

at Joe Gibbs' seat? I don't think so. I think that, you know, Vinny and Dan got wind. I think it was the Eagles. not the Giants, J.C. I could be wrong, though. It could have been the Giants. But the Giants, I think, had a better running back situation back then.

But regardless, they got win that a team in the division was going to trade for Duckett. And Portis, remember, got hurt during that preseason against Cincinnati chasing down somebody who picked off a pass. Clinton still gets pissed off talking about it even to this day. He's like, I should have never been in the game. Well, and I always say to him, well, you didn't have to run the guy down. It was a preseason game. And he says, yeah, well, I was in the game and that's what I do. But yeah, they panicked and they went for T.J. Duckett.

And they gave up a third and a fourth round pick for Duckett. I mean, that's all time stupid for sure. And yeah. I'm not sure that Gibbs wasn't part of that that deal. Gibbs was the head coach. I know. But remember, I think he nodded to a lot of things, you know, back then.

Joe didn't come back to be the general manager. Oh, I know that. I know that. But that was that that was a tremendous lapse in judgment by everybody involved. Yeah. No matter whether you were paying attention or not. You know, the other one, too, and I just, did Jason Taylor, did we trade a first rounder for Jason Taylor? I think so.

Was it a first rounder? I don't know. It was a second and a sixth rounder. But that was a Zorn year. Yeah, July 20th, 2008, Washington acquired six-time Pro Bowl defensive and Jason Taylor from the Dolphins in exchange for 2009, second round pick and a 22nd. 10 sixth rounder. Yeah, the trade was prompted by the injury to Philip Daniels. I was actually, I was okay with that deal, to be honest with you in the moment.

The example I gave of real panic, and it's actually Ben Standing, you know, mentioned it to me on radio, is when poor Ron Rivera and company, you know, basically, you know, got ditched on the Russell Wilson deal, even though they offered Seattle more. And then they went and turned their eyes towards Carson Wentz. And not only traded picks for a guy that was going to get cut, but picked up his entire salary when it was so obvious that you could have said, hey, you know, Colts, we need you guys to eat at least half the salary if we're going to give up compensation for a player that you're going to release.

That was panic. and turned out to be a disaster. Remember... But we're not comparing. We shouldn't be comparing. And if we are comparing, then everyone's in trouble what the Rivera regime did to what the Adam Peters regime is doing. All right. Well, let me...

There should be never any comparison, because when you do that, then you're saying, well, at least we're not the biggest idiots on the block. Yeah, but that's not really what we were comparing to. We're comparing the quote, and you know the quote, because you reached out to me. You sent me this story over the weekend. An NFL exec in the Mike Sando story in the athletic, where, by the way, Sando reviews everybody's free agency, all 32 teams to date, and then uses these quotes from execs commenting on free agency classes. By the way, real quickly, J.C., I don't know if that's true that team execs never say anything nice about other teams. I bet if I went through this story, I could find a couple of compliments. I mean, there's a compliment in Tim Settle being complimented.

Here's the quotes. Quotes that the guy said they would have loved to have had it, right? Yeah, Tim Settle was Houston's best run defender, the interior guy who knocks people back. I would have loved to have had him, closed quote, from one team exec. So the quote that you want to weigh in on, and I did yesterday on the show, was, quote, they are making a bunch of revolving dorm moves this year, which looks like a panic to me. And then the rest of the quote is, it's going to depend on how the quarterback plays. He can save it all, closed quote.

Yeah, no shit. That can be said for almost every team in the league. So you wanted to weigh in on this, because I, I think you tend to agree that it was a bit of a panic free agency, right or wrong? Well, not the panic part of it. The revolving door kind of thing, on the other hand, they had a lot of holes in fill. Okay. They had a lot of people, people on one-year contracts a year before.

So I get that. I guess the whole impression of mine, which I've kind of maintained throughout this, was that they didn't get to do what they wanted to do. They missed out on all the top guys that they swung for except for Allway. And, I mean, I consider that a disappointment if I was a commander's fan since they had a pile of cash. It's like they went into Saks Fifth Avenue with a wheelbarrel full money. And then they left with the same wheelbarrow. and went next door to Hex.

You're going to have to tell some that are listening what Hex was. Okay. So X was a high-level department store, but not Sachs. Okay, it wasn't at the top. Right. Okay. So that's me the way Free Agency went for them. I think people need to pay attention the fact that they came up short on every

big free agent they swung on, except for O'A. And, you know, that may be a great fine for them. You know, but I've talked to Raven fans who think that they always misused O'A here in Baltimore when they had them. So, but I tend to think to agree with the tone, not necessarily the wording. the tone being well so you don't agree with the word panic being used no i wouldn't use the word so what word would you use uh well again plan b it was a plan b and plan c free agency and it should have been a plan a free agency well i mean you know because because the owner has talked about

the sense of urgency. And that sense of urgency to me means you get you make bold moves. They acquired more new players from other teams than anybody else in the league. They were a top three spender

have been so far in free agency. So I don't know, I don't know that that necessarily addresses plan A versus plan B. That's fair. And plan A, probably did include at least one of the following names. Alec Pierce, Tyler Linderbaum, Romeo Dobbs.

I would say that Plan A probably included, you know, landing at least one of those three. What about Trevor, Trevor, uh, Trey Hendrickson? I think the price. They were in on him, supposedly. Yeah, but they were in on him last summer two via trade, but the price was always too high.

and I think they backed off the price. Wasn't that much higher than O. Wait, was it? It's two totally different players because of the age difference. Trey Hendrickson's deal. But the age, the only age you could be, should be really concerned about the age of the quarterback. Yeah, Trey Hendrickson's contract, four years, 112 million with the Ravens 60 million guaranteed. It's lessen guaranteed, but a little bit more in aggregate value. Yeah, I mean, there's no doubt, and I'll concede this to you, there's no doubt that they wanted Pierce, and then Pierce wanted to stay in Indy.

It's not like they lost him to a, lost him to a team outside of the one that he was on this year and has played his entire career with. and Linderbaum, they were probably in on until the price went absolutely haywire. I mean, 9 million more a year than expected. And then, you know, I think after Pierce, they certainly turned to Dobbs, and Dobbs decided not to sign with them. I think they had a comparable offer for Dobbs. Jalen Phillips and Hendrickson, I don't know where they were in the, you know, in the plan. A or plan B, you know, as far as edge pass rushers go. But, you know, Daffa O'A, and I've told you this before, was a top 10 consensus free agent.

I said, yeah. I said they might have hit a home run there. Yeah. They get the guy from the Chargers. Yeah, I mean, that qualifies in free agency, given that superstar players, true superstars that have done it just aren't available really that often in free agency. I mean, Alec Pierce being the number one wide receiver in free agency, he's hardly a superstar. I'm glad they didn't get Pierce, actually. But O-A is a big swing because he was a top, you know, I mentioned this, I think, yesterday.

Number six in ESPN's top 100 free agents, number six in USA Today's top 100 free agents, pretty much consensus top 10 across the board in free agency. I would have been more comfortable with Trey Hendrickson. Less of a risk. Less of a risk from the standpoint of you know that he's produced at a very high level.

He led the league in sacks for back-to-back seasons, but the risk with him is injury and age. Yes. Yeah. Yes. But. Right away. Yeah.

And on Lindelbaum, I would have never coming. I thought that was an insane amount of money, $27 million for a center. Okay. Yeah. So I got, but they didn't have a plan B for that.

They have a plan D. And that's, and that's Wiley. Wait, say that again? Their center plan... You mean Allegrette. Allegrette.

You meant to say Aligretti. I mean Nick Allegretti. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think the center thing is the thing this off-season that has the most mystery around it. I think, you know, overall, like I said yesterday,

to describe an off-season in which you were a top-three spender, you acquired more new-coming players than any team in the league. You also, by the way, let's not forget, they got the extension done for Laramie Tunsell, so that doesn't drag into the spring and into the summer. you brought back a couple of players that you let go test the market. You know, Chris Paul being number one on that list, Marcus Marriota probably being number two on the list in terms of the thought that there was a market for these two, certainly for

Chris Paul, and you get them back on a one year, $3 million deal. That's the other thing is, you know, you signed all of these players, including several of your own, and none of them are unfriendly deals to the team, either now or moving forward. The only one that's a bit high on the guaranteed money, according to the spot track guy, Mike Genetti, is O'Way's deal. You needed desperately defense, defense, defense. And I said before the offseason began, they need four to five new starters, period, and probably six to seven in total contributors to the team next year. And that's what they did. They are on paper better defensively because they got better players, even if they aren't star,

players, time will tell on that, and they're younger and they're faster, and none of the deals hamstrung the team, you know, moving forward. Not to mention, I think they got a very, very interesting and descending tight end in a Conquo. He was one of my favorite players before free agency started. I think bringing back Marcus Mariotta is huge, huge. I think it's been a solid, a if not, you know, excellent. It's been a B plus off season if I had to grade it, but we won't know until they start playing. But based on what they needed to accomplish, I think they've accomplished a lot. I think it's B plus a minus so far.

And they've put themselves in a position, you should be in this position anyway, where at 7 they can take the absolute best player on their board. They don't have to reach for a position. I mean, wide receiver is the only thing that you thought they might be able to add in free agency, whether it was Pierce or Dobbs, or Jennings, who's still out there, and they haven't done it, and they ended up signing Van Jefferson and bringing back Diombi Brown. But, of course, Brandon Ayuk still works down the road. Okay.

I would say more of a B than a B plus or a minus, but they had to, They had the tools to have an A free agency. Yeah, I mean, judging free agency in the moment is like judging a draft in the moment because you don't know the fit and you don't know how they see these players and how they see these players fitting in. That's the real skill in all of this. It's not, you know, the names that are signed. I brought this up, I think, yesterday.

If you go back, you know, New England and Seattle last year, were just prolific in free agency in terms of the number of players they signed and the number of contributing players that they signed. And I went back and looked at New England's free agency class from 2025. And it's almost identical to Washington's. Like their number one player, the only player they gave a four-year deal to, was Milton Williams, you know, the defensive lineman from the Eagles, who I think Washington may have been interested in last year. And he got almost identical in terms of the deal that he got from New England that O'Wea got from Washington. And sort of is a similar player, like, you know, thought to be good and descending, you know,

with his best years to come. They signed Stefan Diggs to a three-year deal. Now, Washington didn't do that with a, you know, a 32 or 33-year-old veteran. Not yet anyway. Carlton Davis, Harold Landry, Spillane, all signed three-year deals. Then they had a couple of two-year deals and then a lot of one-year deals, including Chason, who was there for one year, had a production. productive season and now is here.

And they filled, they had a lot of holes to fill, you know, on both sides of the ball with a new coaching staff. And they hit on a lot of them. So Washington has the same sort of approach from roster construction, you know, from the roster construction standpoint. Now let's see if they evaluated it the right way, you know, knowing what they need for the scheme they're going to employ. Like that's, it's, fit is as important as anything else unless you're getting Miles Garrett and free agency, you know, or something like that.

And that's really where it'll be evaluated. Because for all we know, the player that's going to end up being the best player in free agency might be Rashad White, the running back, that they signed to a one year, $2 million deal. He could end up having the biggest year, you know, or it could be Nick. cross who they signed to a two-year deal because he fits so well in a Durante Jones scheme. I think Akonkwo is going to be the one. I'm going to be really surprised if Chigakonkwo doesn't turn into a guy that looks like a top 10ish receiving tight end or higher, you know, maybe top five-ish, top six, you know, kind of a guy. And a lot of that is based on the quarterback too, which I'm glad that NFL

exec said, you know, it all depends on how the quarterback plays. Because all of what they've done won't mean much if the quarterback only plays for complete football games start to finish. All right. I got more. I know you do too. You want to talk about the Nats. We're going to talk a little bit about Gino Uriama and what happened with Don Staley on Friday night. We got a lot more show. We'll get to it after these words from a few of our sponsors. This time of the year always makes me rethink what's in my closet. I'm trying to keep fewer things, but better ones, pieces that are well made and easy

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All right. This from Seth in Potomac, my guy, who writes a lot. Kevin, Tim Duncan was not better than Tyler Hansborough. You're not wrong on Ralph Samson, but Hansbrough was a better college player than Duncan. Look up the numbers. So I did want you to kind of weigh in a little bit on this, and that is the Sporting News By the way, sporting news has been around for 140 years. Is that true?

1886. God, sporting news was such a pleasure to read every week. It was great. Especially if you were a baseball fan. They had all the box scores for that week. I don't remember that. I remember sporting news being a great publication. But what were they writing about in 1886?

I guess baseball. Baseball in 1886. Yeah. So they put out their all-time college basketball team, 15 players, a first team, second team, and third team. And I talked about the biggest omission by far for me. When I first saw this over the weekend, I immediately said, well, where is Ralph Samson on this list? where is the player that was a three-time national player of the year? So, and then I, by the way, I read through a lot of the, you know, the follow-up to the story that they put out.

And I think Ralph Samson was the runaway number one. Like, where's Ralph? Ralph was a great college basketball player. And should be... And I interrupt for a minute? You may. Ralph, I saw Ralph Sampson on a video the other day as I was flipping through videos. And he's telling a story about Moses Malone and Akeem, Elijah one.

Right. And he's saying Moses and Kareem, Abdul-Jabbar, he said Moses hated Kareem, hated him. You know, just thought he was soft and just couldn't stand. him. And he was a big, he was a big influence on Elijah Juan when he got to Houston. Who Ralph was? He went to college. No, yeah, Ralph was. Yeah. Ralph was a big influence. Moses was, Moses was. Oh, Moses was telling the story. Ralph and Elijah won were the Twin Towers. They played together in Houston. Yes. So Moses was a big influence on Elijah one. How? Yes. Well, he kind of took him on their swing, trained him.

know, really? taught them, you know, like, and there was a place they played basketball. All the pros and the college guys in Houston, where they went every, all the time to play, you know, pickup ball. And Moses was always there. And, you know, Elijah Wan would go, and he would give him a lot of instruction and stuff. But Moses hated Kareem. You know, I understand.

Karim's greatness. I do. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I don't think that he's one of the all-time greats. But his game was more of a finesse game compared to Moses. I mean, compared... Yeah, I mean, you know, his patented shot was a sky hook, which, by the way, he would shoot that sky hook from, you know, as far out as 15 feet. Yeah. But so Samson

So let's go back to the table. Samson should be, Samson should be on this. Like Sam, I mean, Jay Williams from Duke, sorry. By the way, Seth, I don't think I said that Tim Duncan should be on it before Hansborough. I probably said should be considered before Hansborough, but I definitely think Duncan belongs there before Jay Williams. And Tommy, some of the other names that popped up, Will, and Jerry, West as college players. They're not on this list either. But Ralph Samson was a three-time national player of the year, but he

didn't win a championship. But Elvin Hayes didn't win a championship, and he's on this. Pete Marevich didn't win a national championship. He's on this. Larry Bird didn't win a national championship. He's on this. And I said yesterday, as far as college players go, Ralph was a better and it was a better college player than Michael Jordan was. I'm not saying Michael Jordan shouldn't be on this list. I mean, hell, his teammate James Worthy, could be considered to be as good of a college player as Michael was during those years.

But Jay Williams is the one that sticks out, I think, to a lot of people. It's like, Jay Williams from Duke is on there before Ralph Samson or Tim Duncan or Wilk Chamberlain or Jerry West. Really? No, shouldn't be. Yeah. What do you think? You haven't spent a lot of time with this list, but what are your first? I'm surprised that, I mean, you know, I agree with most of the names on the list.

Mm-hmm. So I was just about to check on somebody else. Who did you want to check on? I blanked on it. Willis Reed? No, no, no, no, no. Well, he went to Grambling. Yeah.

He was a very good college player. Yeah. But, no, I wouldn't. Jerry Lucas. Oh, Jerry Lucas. Yeah. What kind of college player was he? Great college player.

Yeah, a great college player. I saw his name mentioned a few times on the omissions. I'll tell you, the other thing that I think is, I think Christian Leitner actually has a case to be on the team. Now, who would I put him on there in front of? Well, not David Thompson, because he's the greatest college player that I ever saw play in my lifetime of watching. Bill Walton, you know, is right there with him. But, you know, I guess you can't put him in front of Louell Sinder or Oscar or Russell either. But Leitner's, Leitner was a sensational college player, you know, one of the all-time winners in college basketball history

and one of the greatest clutch performers in college basketball history. It's got to be on the list. Well, he is. He's on the second team. Right. He is. Yeah, yeah. I just said, I think you could make the case that he deserves to be on the first team.

CJ and a couple of other Georgetown people basically said to me, you know, Patrick Ewing is three points, three points away from being number one on this list. because they lost to North Carolina by one on Jordan's shot in the Superdome in 82. They lost Villanova in Lexington in 85. They beat Houston. If they win those other two titles and he's a three-time national champion,

you may put him first on the list. Although maybe not first, but maybe behind Alcindar and Kareem. But, uh, I'm glad Elvin Hayes was recognized for the college player that he was. Oh, yeah, I can't remember the game. Astrodome. Yeah, Lou Alcindor and Elvin Hayes broadcast on national TV.

Yeah. I remember watching that. Yeah, that was amazing. This from Quinn, Quinn writes, I hear you on bias, but what about one on one of these three teams? No, no, no. No, neither one of them. First of all, I have bias ahead of Dixon.

Dixon's obviously a champion in Dixon's number two on my all-time Maryland list, followed by John Lucas and then Tom McMillan and Buck Williams. And then we can debate from six on after that. Those are the five best to ever play for Maryland. Jerry Lucas. Yeah, I know. Okay. Yep.

Two-time National College Player of the Year. Right. pre-time first-team all-American, two-time NCAA rebounding leader. You know? Yeah. I mean, how can he not be on this list? And Tower Hansborough? Right.

Tyler Hansborough was a great college player. I don't want to knock him. But Terry Cookess was a greater college player. I mean, Hansbrough was prolific as a college player, but he does not deserve to be on there in front of rallies. Samson. I am sorry. Hansbro won national player of the year one time.

Yes, he won a title. Ralph Samson won national player of the year, not once, not twice, but thrice. Three times. He was the national player of the year. And he was for the time, he was a unicorn.

Every center that ever come around at that size played, get your skinny, tall ass to the post. And Ralph could play on the post, but Ralph could face you from 15 feet, put the ball on the floor and shoot a jump shot. He was a power forward in the NBA for Houston. Hakeem was the center. But yeah, and Tim Duncan,

Tim Duncan was the national player of the year in 97. He was, I think he's still the all-trial. time, is he still the all-time NCAA rebounder? He's close. Look, I'm not going to make the case for Duncan over Hands, bro, but I can make the case for Duncan over Jay Williams. I watched, there are a lot of ACC players on this list. Let's count them up. One, two, three, four, five, five of the 15 are ACC players. I saw all of them. And, and Jay Williams was a really good college player. He's not more deserving than Tim Duncan or Ralph Samson.

I mean, quite honestly, I mean, I would definitely consider Len bias. Len bias was a two-time ACC player of the year. Jay Williams was the national player of the year in 2002. Juan Dixon was the ACC player of the year. That's one of those things about Dixon's year was so great. Dixon finished second, I think, to Jay Williams and Player of the Year honors in 2002. Jay Williams won national player of the year, and Dixon was the ACC player of the year in front of Jay Williams. I mean, I think I can make the case for bias over Jay Williams, but whatever.

I mean, Phil Ford over Jay Williams. Yeah. A lot of great players in the history of college basketball. For me, David Thompson would be number one on this list, but I didn't see Oscar, Bill Russell, or Kareem in college. Now, Thompson, I didn't see any of them playing college. Thompson would be mine and Bill Walton would be a very, very close back. Yeah, me too. He'd be a close second.

And then for me, Leitner would be third. For the players that I watched, Leitner would be third. Yes, ahead of Patrick Ewing. but Patrick Patrick was dominant there's no doubt about it he was dominant you know what's funny

they had they had the they mentioned last night during the broadcast that the 1976 undefeated Indiana team was there

yes they were last night and they were being honored for the 50th anniversary of the still you know the last undefeated team you know

to win the championship ship. And I always think of another Kareem story of Kent Benson when he became a pro. He was a mediocre pro. I think he had about eight or nine years in the NBA. But there's a video of him playing Kareem. You're punching him. And him giving him an elbow in Kareem's stomach. And Kareem bending over in pain. You know, and then Kareem comes back and basically dex him. You know, just decks them just knocks them right out. Didn't deck them like Kermit Washington did to Rudy Tomjanovich, though. No, didn't do that.

Yeah. All right. Yeah. Good conversation about college basketball. It's timely. And then after today, we probably won't talk about college basketball again until maybe Maryland plays Georgetown because they will play in November at Capital One. What?

shit. Why? You'll be talking about Maryland recruiting. Yeah, you'll be all over that. I don't do a lot of, I'm not, I've never been a big recruiting guy. You know who is. Yeah, but this is a year of desperation. It is a year of desperation, no doubt.

And Maryland, by the way, has a top five recruiting class coming in in terms of incoming freshmen, which doesn't matter as much as portal. You know who's just obsessed with college football and college basketball recruiting is Scott. I mean, Scott, I can call him and ask him about any player, you know, and the number of stars he had next to his name in high school or currently has, and he'll know.

He is so, Van Pelt is so in to recruiting. All right, we got more after these words from a few of our sponsors. Now the college basketball is over. We can all start to focus on the upcoming NBA playoffs, Tommy. I know you're going to be excited for those. They get underway next week with the play-in games. The NHL playoffs are about a week and a half away as well. If you want to bet hockey in the postseason or NBA in the postseason,

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and you will get that 50% cash. bonus. I know you wanted to talk about the Nats and how offensive they've been here to start the season, including last night and their win over the Cardinals. Well, last night in particular, their 9 to 6 win over Cardinals, it was great to see James Woods hit a three-run homer to basically tie the game, and then Brady House hit a two-run homer to give the Nats the lead. And then C.J. Abrams, his fourth and five games, hit a solo home run to add to the lead.

My point is, these are three guys here that between three of them can probably hit 90 home runs in a season. Wow. James Wood is capable of a 40 home run season. Brady House, if he's the player, they think they drafted, and so far he's had a very good early season. season is capable of being a 25 home run a year guy. And C.J. Abrams is, or maybe more.

You know, so if these guys, particularly Brady House, who, you know, if he fulfills his promise, they'll have some decent power in their lineup. Now, they don't have a bullpen, and they're starting pitching as erratic. but these three guys will be fun to watch. We know C.J. Abrams is always fun to watch, but at least until they trade him at the trading deadline this year. They won't be trading either of the other guys this year. But C.J. Abrams will probably be traded.

But my point is, those three guys can generate some power. Well, it's very encouraging to see Brady House if he turned into a big contributor to the, offense. And he's a number one pick. Tommy, through now, what are the Nats? What's the record right now? Is it? The Nats right now are four and six. Four and six. They got swept by the Dodgers, but that's no shame.

No. And the games were competitive. A couple of them were anyway. So right now, in the National League, they are second and batting average to the Dodgers. They are third and on-base percentage. They are second. in slugging percentage behind the Dodgers. They are third in OPS behind Milwaukee and the Dodgers. They have 14 homers, third behind the Dodgers in the Braves. Runs scored, and this is what I was going to say, they have been scoring a lot of runs, third in the National League behind the Dodgers and the Brewers.

They've got 64 runs in 10 games. They're averaging 6.4 runs per game. They have 99 hits in 10 games that second to the Dodgers. They have been... It generated a lot of offense. Absolutely. C.J. Abrams, it leads the Nash... It leads the Bigs in RBI's.

He's got 13. Nunez leads the big leagues in stolen bases with six. He had another one last night. And he is fun to watch at shortstop when he's in the game. When he's in the game at shortstop. Yeah. Very flashy. So they have some decent young players, but their pitching is so questionable.

And the bullpen, look, bullpens are the things that can change from month to month. You know, I'll bet you the bullpen you have now doesn't look like anything like the bullpen they'll have in July and August. So the bullpens change. But, you know, these guys are worth watching. Yes, so far. And remember, you know, it was just a week and a half ago, a little more than a week, no, I bet a week and a half ago, that we were saying the schedule is so brutal to start with the Cubs, the Phillies, the Dodgers, then the Cardinals and then the Brewers,

it's like, what's their record going to be by the time we get to, you know, a month in the season? Well, they've been battling. I mean, the games against the Dodgers, the home opener was 13 to 6, but 10 to 5 and then 8 to 6 on Sunday and then they won 9 to 6 last night. And the two games they lost to the Phillies were both by one run. Yes.

Okay. Cavali's pitching tonight against St. Louis and Hill. That's always worse watching. Yeah. He can be a stud. Right. So good start for them. You know, the caps,

they lost, and I didn't mention this on the podcast yesterday, but they really have had an opportunity here over the last week that they've just blown majorly. The two bad teams that they faced or the two lesser teams that they face, the Devils and the Rangers, they lost 7 to 3 in New Jersey and then 8 to 1 on Sunday in the Garden to the Rangers. Sandwiched in between was a win against one of the better teams in the NHL, Buffalo, 6 to 2, at home. They really needed at least one of those, two of those, and they'd be in the near driver's seat at this point for a playoff spot. But as we sit here now, those two losses are going to come back to haunt them because there's still three points behind the flyers for the

third position in the Metropolitan Division, but the Islanders and Blue Jackets are both ahead of them, so in between them and the Flyers. And then in the wild card race. They are three points behind Ottawa, but there are three teams in front of them. They could still do it. They'd have to absolutely win all four games.

They have four games left. They have to run the table and then hope. They play Toronto tomorrow night, then they've got two with Pittsburgh over the weekend, and then they finish a week from tonight against a team that is ahead of them right now in Columbus.

But it's like all of the teams, that are vying for these last few spots in the east, they've all been losing, and the caps just haven't been able to take advantage of it. So it's not over yet. I don't know what the playoff probability is. I think I saw something that had it at like 6%. I don't know how they come up with those things. But if they win all four, if they were to win out, they've got a puncher's chance.

That's about it, though. Look, the story right now is, are we watching the last? games of Alex Ovechkin. That's the story. And really, that is the story. You're 100% right. Are we watching the final four games of Alex Ovechkin in a Capitals uniform? Yeah, their last

home game is Sunday. April 12th, I'll be there because it could be the last time we see Ovechkin in person on ice. I think it probably will be. Yeah, I'd love to be there with

you, but I will be tuned into the master's final round on Sunday. That game's a three o'clock Sunday game. But I can only imagine the send-off. If it is a send-off, we're not going to know for sure until after the season's over, right? Like, this is not... You're right. I don't think we will. Yeah. Well, it'd be interesting if they could just... They've actually played some good games, and they've got the two stinkers against New Jersey and the Rangers, if they somehow put together a four-game win streak to end the season, they'd have a shot. They'd have, you know, an outside shot to get into the postseason. I'm wondering, look, I'm not a Caps guy, but there was so much praise for last season. It was a bit

unexpected the regular season they had. Then they actually won a playoff series before losing in the second round. Ovechkin, you know, had a big year, and Spencer Carberry was hailed as like, they got it right with him. This guy knows what he's doing. I'm not suggesting that he doesn't. I don't know anything about this. But they needed, you know, if you're of that ilk, don't you kind of make the postseason pretty much every year in that league? I think you do, yes. Not every year, but close to every year. And now he's one for three, right? All right. I wanted to finish with this.

And actually, while we've been recording here, we got, there's an update to this story. And that is that Don Staley, the head coach of South Carolina, and Gina Oriama, the longtime head coach at Yukon. Here's a headline story right now on ESPN.com. Don Staley said this afternoon that she did speak with Gino or Iema and suggested that everybody turn the page, turn the page from what some of you may be asking. Well, on Friday night when they met in the national semifinals in the final four,

South Carolina destroyed Yukon and then got destroyed by UCLA in the women's final on Sunday, which I just want to mention real quickly. I did not know this, but somebody shared this with me. I mean, not that it's private information. It was all over the internet, apparently. I don't pay attention to women's college basketball in terms of betting, but South Carolina went off as like a three and a half four point favorite in the title game against UCLA. And from what I understand, it was like one of the biggest smell test, you know, picks of all time because everybody had South Carolina. Like the line just kept going up.

Sharps had South Carolina. The public had South Carolina. So I may have been a little bit worried about the Sharp money. but UCLA crushed them in the final, destroyed them in the final. With Jaime Hakez's sister, Gabriella being the star of the game. Hakez was such a good player at UCLA, and I always thought he would be a good NBA player, and he's turned into a very good NBA player. Speaking of that, Denny Avdia, with just one big night after another for Portland,

again last night, in a loss to Denver in overtime. All right, enough about that. So Friday night when South Carolina finished off Yukon, they're going through the handshake line and Gino says something to Don Staley that sets her off. Apparently what he said was, I didn't appreciate waiting around for you in the pregame handshake. Now there is video of them shaking hands pregame, but apparently, you know, he thought it should have been done differently and he was not happy with that he complained about the officiating, said essentially that his players were being beaten up on during the course of the game, said a player of his had a jersey ripped, which apparently did not happen

via a South Carolina player. And then he walked off the court after lecturing her. She lost it, and he walked off the court. In the moment, can I just tell you, because I was watching this live. Why you ask? Because a friend of mine said, if you're not watching anything, South Carolina is crushing the Yukon women and they weren't supposed to. I don't know if they were supposed to or not. So I caught it just in time for this. And I was like, well, that was Bush League. I mean, you got your ass kicked and you're starting something in the handshake line.

That should be saved for afterwards in private when you're Gino Oriema, one of the most successful coaches in the history of college sports. men or women. And I just thought then his, you know, post-game presser was really whiny. And then the statement that they put out where basically he, you know, gives a mea-culpah, but doesn't apologize to Don Staley. And his mayaculpa, he said, there's no excuse for how I handled the end of the game versus South Carolina.

It's unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Yukon. I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina, the staff and team. It was uncalled for in how I reacted. The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don't want my actions to detract from that. I've had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them. He doesn't mention Don Staley once in the apology. So I thought that was kind of Bush League. But apparently, here's the update.

Don Staley said, quote, I spoke with Gino and I want to be clear. I have a great deal of respect for him and what he's meant to this game. One moment doesn't define a career and it doesn't change the impact he's had on growing women's basketball. The standard at Yukon is what it is because of him

and that's something this game has benefited from. So I'm asking everybody to turn the page, let's refocus on what matters most, continuing to elevate our game, creating opportunities, and pushing it forward. That's always been my mission, and it's not changing. Closed quote. That's a good. That's a good statement.

She got him good with that because it makes her look like she's on the high road, which she is in a way. But she also says, which I don't think anyone said, one moment doesn't define a career. Right. You know, I don't think anyone, like six months from, now is going to talk about you know Gino

in that the text of this is his career defining moment. By saying it doesn't define his career, she's basically elevating the moment. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. Yes.

She's saying this was a really big deal but I don't want to see it ruin his entire career. Right. That's exactly what it is. That's a that's such a great quick observation because that doesn't need to be in there. You know, I spoke with Gino and I want to be clear.

I have a great deal of respect for him and what he's meant to this game. And then it could have just gone. The standard at Yukon is what it is because of him. And that's something that this game has benefited from. So I'm asking everyone to turn the page. But no. Stop picking on poor little Gino, everybody. But no.

she throws in one moment, that moment on Friday night doesn't define a career. It was a terrible moment for him. He really looked like an ass. But it doesn't change the impact he's had on growing women's basketball. That one moment, that terrible moment that no one will ever forget from the semifinal where he completely dissed me in front of a national audience. That was really, that was my immediate. reaction. I'm like, look, and look,

she went nuts too. I mean, she's fiery as hell. I mean, we know that. Everybody knows that, and I'm not even a women's basketball fan. And I know how good of a coach she is and how tough of a competitor she is. And she lost it. She went nuts and she

elevated it in the moment. I mean, she could have just shook her head and said, are you serious? And then just continued. But it was a scene in the moment. moment. It was like, we got something going on here. And I didn't realize sort of the, you know, I know the rivalry that they have, but I didn't know that there's previous animosity. Um, but yeah, that's a good. Yeah, one moment doesn't define a career. That terrible, horrible moment when he acted like a jackass in front of a national TV audience, don't hold that against him for his entire career. Remember some of the good stuff he did. Yeah, he looked terrible in that thing.

He really did. He really did. All right. You got anything else? I got nothing else for you, boss. Okay. I'll talk to you on Thursday. Back tomorrow.

Okay.